Reading and Language, M.A.

Program Director: Martille Elias, Ph.D.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

1. Candidates develop a strong, coherent vision of a culture of literacy at school and community levels which acknowledges that language and literacy experiences are individual and that cultural contexts impact instruction and learning.
2. Candidates articulate the reciprocal nature of language, reading and writing processes in the development of effective literacy practices and demonstrate an understanding of the power of language and literacy competency in shaping their students' academic identities and social capital.
3. Candidates will demonstrate an understanding of contrasting theories of learning and literacy from several perspectives—sociological, psychological, linguistic—and how these contrasting theories of learning are a reflection of the broader debates in literacy education.
4. Based on an analysis of current, high quality literacy research, candidates will create effective literacy learning environments strongly rooted in a theoretical base, that engage all students including English Language Learners, and design and carry out appropriate literacy instruction based on the needs of individual students, including struggling readers/writers
5. Candidates develop a repertoire of assessment and evaluation strategies to analyze learners' strengths and next learning steps as readers and writers and create strategic interventions and approaches to support individual literacy development.
6. Candidates will understand 21st Century literacies including a semiotic perspective that embraces a variety of sign systems to enhance the meaning-making process and will be able to articulate how critical pedagogy and critical literacy create a framework for them to enact work in diverse, urban, and multicultural settings.
7. Candidates will articulate understanding of current standards in the field and will demonstrate how to engagingly embed these standards in pedagogical practice.

Locations Offered

Main Campus Fresno, Visalia